Fail Safe
by The13thGirlWithoutASoul
Summary: Darcy Trix is released from Lighthaven for good behavior on one condition: she give up her memories and receive new ones of a normal Earth life. But when her long-lost sisters show up with a new ally, can Darcy Lewis be saved? Does she even want to be?
1. Prologue

**Title: Fail Safe**

**Rating: T**

**Darcy Trix is released from Lighthaven for good behavior on one condition: she give up her memories and receive new ones of a normal Earth life. But when her long-lost sisters show up with a new ally, can Darcy Lewis be saved? Does she even want to be?**

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**A/N: This will be my first crossover fic. It will be set between seasons four and five. Marvel and Winx...oh, boy, this seems like a toughie. Can be read with no knowledge of Winx Club, but I would recommend seeing Avengers before reading.**

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Lighthaven Prison Center [Takes place during early season four]

"So, Darcy, I know you've talked this over with your cousins, Headmistress Griffin, and your therapists for a while now. Do you really think you'll be okay like this?" Ms. Brand sounded bored, like she was reading off of a script and couldn't really care less whether Darcy thought she'd be alright, which was true.

"Yes." Darcy knew her answer right away but hesitated a moment for believability, then corrected Ms. Brand from sheer force of habit. "Sisters, not cousins." the woman nodded curtly, but Darcy saw the flicker of confusion pass over Ms. Brand's face, just for a second; the woman was from Earth and very new at her side-job of managing Lighthaven prisoners up for Earth-parole.

From what Darcy had been able to glean from the recreational room television, Earth had not been as happy as one would expect when fairies rediscovered it and Lighthaven began releasing 'reformed' criminals onto it.

Some of them (most of them) had not been changed at all, and proceeded to run rampant on the earth, causing damage. Its inhabitants had not liked being toyed with by the Major fairies either, and a 'Stop shitting with the Earth' message had been sent out to the Magix Dimension. Within hours Ms. Brand was co-managing Lighthaven's parole group. Some credit had to be attributed to the woman's professional manner, however, in such an unfamiliar environment.

Darcy and her sisters had not silently snickered at Ms. Brand's insistence at calling the Trix cousins (as they did everything else about her, from her plain outfits to her plain sunglasses) because, well, it was true.

Technically, Icy and Stormy were half-sisters, because their father was the same, but the latest Trix members had been raised as sisters and would die as sisters (and hopefully queens of the universe). Even the other councilors called them sisters. Ms. Brand was ridiculously unaware of Magix customs.

"Alright then, we'll let you say goodbye to your...sisters, then we can get the last few papers signed and then you can be released." Darcy nodded. Truth be told, she was nervous about the entire thing, and more then a little sad. She would miss her sisters more then she was willing to admit while on Earth, and unnerved by the proposition Lighthaven had given her.

Ms. Brand had come up with the solution to releasing parole-approved prisoners; to leave Lighthaven, they would have to agree to their memories being completely wiped clean, then replaced by normal Earthly ones. No one could even be released onto the Magix dimension, and it seemed Earth was her only option for getting out.

As they walked down the brightly-painted hallways, the middle Trix sister felt like canceling the entire thing and going back to her cell with her sisters would be the best thing. Panic rose in her chest as they stopped by the door. How could they be doing this?

Well, it wasn't like there was another way to leave. The Trix faced so many assault, murder, attempted murder, accessory after the fact, vandalism, breaking and entering, and property damage charges that even Stormy had thought a life sentence was fair enough. Darcy wiling her way into convincing the counselors that she really had changed was their only way to get out, and that had taken almost the entire year.

"Make it quick." were Ms. Brand's only words before locking Darcy in behind her sisters. As the doors closed, Darcy heard her muttering something about 'her, a level twenty threat?' and 'as if I have nothing better to do then escort some delinquent teenager to Earth' and frowned, but didn't bother saying anything. The room was soundproof, anyhow.

"Icy," she said, trying hard not to glance at the security cameras in all four corners of the room where Icy and Stormy sat on their cots. She knew they were being watched, and she had to make this heartfelt. First she took Stormy. The two exchanged pleasantries and 'I'll miss you's before Darcy moved on to Icy. She opened her arms for a hug and hoped Icy, who was not a natural hugger, would take the hint.

She did. As the two sisters wrapped their arms around each other, Icy muttered into Darcy's ear the words that calmed the dark witch's pounding heart and quenched her fear almost completely. Almost. "Remember the failsafe, Darcy."  
"But how can I remember, when they've replaced my memories and left me to rot on that stinking, magicless, backwater little—"

"Shut up, Darcy," Icy's voice was urgent and whispered. Their embrace had probably gone on for too long already. "I didn't mean then. I mean, do you remember the failsafe? Nothing can go wrong." and like she had so many times before, Darcy put her fate into the hands of her older sister without question.  
"I know."

The three sisters exchanged glances before Darcy knocked and told Ms. Brand that she was ready to come out now. Darcy could feel Icy's eyes follow her as they retreated down the hall. She felt a new sense of pride, nobility, even self-sacrifice as she signed the disclaimers and waivers.

She was the coven's only hope for once, not Icy, and it was refreshing. But the feeling of responsibility was almost overwhelming as well—she would never be able to get used to it and was realizing a whole new, grudging appreciation for Icy was leader, despite her ever-present desire to undermine her.

She stared down at her clothes, which had already been replaced with plainer, Earthen ones so she didn't stick out. Her heart rate sped up again; she didn't want to do this!

_Well, tough_, Icy would say. _You're the only one who can get us out of this sweet 'n low hell._ Biting her lip, she passed through the automatic doors. Ms. Brand did not follow her, instead watching through a glass panel as lights began to swirl around Darcy, shooting through her endlessly.

And then all she knew was her own screaming.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Okay, so the next few chapters will be Avenger-y. Ooh, two updates in one day! Would've been in a row but I had to go to dance class (yep, Imma pretty ballerina like Nat!) I own nothing, not even Abby Brand : ) I hope at least one of you recognized her...**

* * *

Darcy Lewis hummed as she stepped into the room her lab-slaver, Jane Foster, was working. "Hey. Jane. Coffee?"

Usually the brunette was more articulate, but in most cases Darcy was dead to the world until she had consumed about six cups of coffee, and the consultation they were taking proved no exception.

Jane glanced up from a paper. "Sure," she replied, then decided to vent her frustrations on a poor (literally and figuratively) college student who knew it would take her years to amass the knowledge to understand what Jane talked about. "I'm _this_ close to making a breakthrough and I don't have enough data and results to—" she cut herself off, eyes widening, as she stared at something behind her. Darcy sucked in a breath.

"There's something behind me, isn't there? Is it evil? Is it—

She turned around and nearly dropped the coffee pot.

Standing in the doorway was a man that neither of them knew personally, but was immediately identifiable as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man. And standing behind him was a man they both knew.

"Thor! How did you...why are you back here? Do we get to leave now? Um...and...Iron Man is here." Darcy's greeting turned awkward when she wondered what to call the superhero-billionaire.

The shorter man shifted his weight, waiting for someone to say something, but Jane was still blankly staring at Thor like he was a unicorn. (Ick, unicorns)

Iron Man (Iron Man!) mock-sighed, putting two fingers on the circle of light in his chest."Darcy Lewis! You wound me, Ms. Lewis; I know who you are, after all. Call me Tony." Darcy ignored him and nudged Jane again. "Um, you know who that is, don't—"

"Lady Jane! Lady Darcy!" the joyous words from Thor seemed to break Jane's trance and she ran over to him. Darcy looked away quickly before the pair could get sappy, lifted up the coffee pot's spout, and straight out drank from it to clear her head and make sure one last time that it wasn't a dream. She couldn't see it but it sounded suspiciously like Iron Man was laughing.

"See, Man of Iron, this is the warrior maiden who wields the mighty 'taser'. Why does your iron armor not have a weapon such as that?" Thor boomed with Jane in his arms, making the corners of Darcy's mouth curve up in a smile. Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Um, Thor, it...it doesn't work that way. Lemme show you," he motioned to Darcy. "Do you, um, still have that taser?"

She grinned, picking up her backpack, the last place she remembered leaving it, and was surprised to see it was still there. "I haven't used it since." she handed it to Tony, trying to ignore Jane's stunned expression.

He frowned. "What'd you do, drop it on the ground?"

"No," she replied, frowning. "I bought it like this."

"Huh." Tony looked surprised. "It's broken. There's no way you could've tasered Thor if this is the same way it was when you did."

Darcy shrugged quickly. "That's weird. Oh well. So, Thor, why are you back on Earth again? We thought we'd never see you again..." she was anxious to direct the attention onto someone else. Being in the room with a man who was practically a celebrity and another who was a god was flustering, putting aside the fact that she wasn't sure what had happened that night with the taser anyway. All she knew was that she hadn't actually pressed the trigger, but she must've, or...what?

"I was called back to fight new evil, to my lasting dismay," Thor was saying. His eyes turned downcast. "My brother refuses the path of redemption, and instead turns back to trickery and vengeance—" he was cut off by Iron Man nudging Thor in the ribs. Thor didn't react to the elbow, instead looking at him in surprise. "What is it, Man of Iron?"

"Sorry, Thor, we need to wrap this up." he turned back to Darcy, as Jane was behind him with Thor. "We're here to bring you back to New York with us."

"You...are?" the smartest person in Darcy's world seemed dazed, as if it were too much, which it rather was. "Back to New York, with...you?"

"Uh, well, that's what we were hoping. The fee is already in your bank account, and we have a plane outside, but if you would rather stay—" Darcy shook her head quickly, setting the coffee pot down with a bang.

"No! No. No, we'd rather go, right, Jane?" the older woman broke her gaze with Thor to nod, and Darcy picked up her backpack. Iron Man smirked.

"I'll assume you don't have any important luggage; I know it was sudden, you two getting called away. You were actually en route to...Texas at the time, on a plane, so you didn't really have time to pack more, right?" she twisted her head, wondering how he knew that.

"Come on, then." Iron Man said impatiently, turning. She trailed behind the others with her backpack in one hand and iPod in the other, trying to make sense of what had happened.

Darcy had almost gotten it straight when she stepped inside the plane.  
She had assumed that it would just be them, and a pilot or something, but there were several other people in the small plane; a man she didn't know in the cockpit, another man with glasses in a seat behind the pilot, across from a red-headed woman wearing a catsuit. And standing next to the man with glasses—

"Um, Jane?" muttered Darcy as discreetly as possible, nudging her boss, hard. "That's Captain America."

"Mhm..." Jane blinked, looking half asleep. "The Captain America?"

"I think there's only one Nazi fighting supersolider who got dug out of the ice a few months back." she rolled her eyes.

"That'd be me, ma'am. Call me Steve." she looked away from Jane to see the subject of their conversation standing before her, holding out his gloved hand to shake her own. Numbly, she took it, wondering if he had heard their entire conversation. As if she had asked out loud, he looked away as if ashamed. It may have been the light, but he looked like he was blushing. "I have...good hearing."

"Hello, then," the college student said in a small voice. Up until Thor, the most notable people she had known were Eric and Jane. Her list was rapidly expanding. "So who are everyone else?"

"Well, this is Bruce." cut in Iron Man. "Say hi, Brucey!" he seemed particularly gleeful at the moment, like euphoria before the pain. The man with the glasses cleaned the lenses on his shirt before raising a hand to Darcy and Jane. "Hi. I'm Bruce." he said quietly. Jane smiled.

"Banner? Oh, gosh! I've heard of you. You worked in gamma radiation, right? What happened?" Bruce was cut off from replying when Tony seemed to hurriedly change the subject.

"And this is Clint Barton, and Natasha—"

"Agent—" he was cut off by the redhead, who he smiled charmingly at, making her scowl fiercely.

"—ahem, Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff." Agent Barton glanced at the two before turning back to the controls. Agent Romanoff was no more forthcoming, staring the newcomers up and down as if she was at an airport before looking out the window again. Iron Man shrugged sheepishly, as if to say 'they can't help it; they don't know any better', making Captain America—Steve—roll his eyes at the dark haired man.

Jane stood up straighter as if she had just realized something. "Darcy, why are we going to New York? We don't live in New York! We don't have a place to live in New York." Darcy brought her hand to her forehead. How could they have forgotten? Well, between the appearance of a plane, a god, and a billionaire, she figured they had some leeway. "Um..."

"You can stay at Stark Tower, obviously." Tony offered.

"Obviously?" muttered Darcy before she realized who she was talking to. "I mean...Stark Tower?"

"Avenger Tower—" said Bruce, but Tony waved his hand as if shoo away the fact.

"My tower either way. And I decided everyone else is staying, too," he grinned. "Couldn't resist the charm of living with me. I guess that's why Pepper decided to—"

"Tony, you know most of the Avengers are practically homeless, right?" Bruce inquired, forcing Darcy to unsuccessfully stifle a laugh.

"So...yeah, that's it. You coming?" he inquired. Jane opened her mouth, then close it as he continued. "We have movie night."

"Yeah, that's what did it for me," Agent Romanoff said from her standing position as she leaned onto the seat in front of her, rolling her green eyes. "That and the fact that my room is kind of a smoking pile of rubble now, thanks to Stark." she sent a scary glare his direction and he looked away quickly. _Well, she seems like a bundle of joy._

"Landing." Agent Barton said in a bored tone.

Tony Stark sarcastically clapped his hands at the word and Darcy shouldered her backpack, glancing at Jane every so often. Captain—Steve—offered to carry their luggage. Tony Stark rolled his eyes, "Aside from this not being the age of chivalrous knights, they don't have any, Spangles."

Steve lowered his eyes, but his jaw clenched in annoyance. "It's a nice gesture, Stark—not that you would be familiar with that kind of thing."

Tony smirked. "I do know what nice means. But I banned it from the Tony Stark Vocabulary." Bruce rolled his eyes, then looked at Jane as he fiddled with his glasses, which seemed to spend more time in his hands then on his shirt.

"So I take I you were to one to...discover...Thor when he...arrived here?" Jane nodded, and Thor gestured theatrically. "Tis true! I was subdued by a large metallic beast and the dark-magic talisman of Lady Darcy upon my arrival, and was consequently given lodging and sustenance in the residence of my lady Jane."

Darcy giggled and Tony fought back a laugh too—he probably wasn't used to the way the God of Thunder spoke yet—but Bruce only looked mildly amused at the words, as did Jane. The college student figured that it was because they were some of the only people in the plane who understood all the words that Thor used.

She hadn't even realized that they had stopped until Agent Barton stood and walked past them to get to the opening doors, Agent Romanoff following him. As the two retreated from the roof and the rest of the Avengers, plus Jane and Darcy, exited, Tony nodded at their retreating backs.

"Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Pleasure to be around and we're taking bets on whether they're secretly having—"

He was cut off when a woman walked over to him and slapped him in the face, hard. There were tear tracks on her face and there were tooth-marks through her lipstick on her bottom lip, but her eyes showed anger, not worry. "Pep—

_"Tony-Goddamn-Stark!"_ as he was rubbing the side of his face, she punched him in the chest. She obviously hadn't been in very many fights, but paired with the bruises that were probably underneath his shirt it was enough to make him gasp sharply.

"What the _hell_ do you have to say for yourself? I turn on the television and all I can see is Iron Man carrying a nuclear missile into a black hole! And to look at my phone and see that you called me and that I didn't answer it and you may have been dead...and not coming home first thing afterwards, while I was scared out of my wits—"

"I was...uh...in a meeting?"

This did not go down well with the woman, who knocked him upside the head with the heel of her hand. "YOU WENT OUT FOR LUNCH!"

"We were hungry," he defended himself, gesturing to the people gathered around him. "Saving the world takes a lot out of you."

She hit him once more. "For making me worry." he kissed her on the forehead and she raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "What was that for?"

"Um, apology in advance for your baby's death?" he said weakly, glancing helplessly at his sniggering 'team'. She glared, but her gaze wasn't as seriously angry as it had been at first. Thor began panicking to Jane about 'what babe was destroyed in the ensuing battle? Was Lady Pepper the mother?'

"It's your eighty-eight percent that got destroyed."

"Yeah, yeah...so-you-know-how-we-were-going-to-get-lonely-living-here-alone—"

"No...?"

"I-came-up-with-a-brilliant-solution-so-I-invited-all-the-Avengers-Initiative-to-live-with-us-I'm-exhausted-so-goodnight-bye-Pep—" she grabbed him by the sleeve.

"Not so fast. Stay," she instructed him, before turning to the others. "Hi. I'm Pepper, the one Tony pawns his responsibilities off on when he gets bored." she tapped the side of her face with her finger. "So, where are we going to put everyone until...well, until we rebuild this place?"

"Uh, I'm good in an air vent," Agent Barton raised one hand. Pepper rolled her eyes, turning to Tony.

"I can't believe these are the kind of people you hang out with," he shrugged, motioning towards the building. She bit her lip as Steve held the door open for the others. "I started covering things with tarp already."

They surveyed the room, which seemed to be filled with tents of tarp, sparking wires, and caved in plaster. Agent Romanoff shrugged in appraisal.

"Not too bad." she said. Agent Barton nodded. "Better then Berlin, that's for sure."

Darcy made a mental note never to go to Berlin—wherever it was.

This had potential to be exciting.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: I don't own anything! All I have to say is that Darcy's point of view will have names a little different from neutral point of view, because she thinks of people slightly differently. You'll see what I mean.

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Chapter Two:

"I swear to God, Tony, if I wake up to JARVIS telling me about the potential threat in this building one more time, I will—" Virginia 'Pepper' Potts was beating eggs for omelets with enough force to send tiny droplets all over the room. She and Tony were sitting in the kitchen of Steve's floor while the star-spangled Avenger was out for a jog. Over the month the Avengers had lived together, it had become an unspoken rule that, barring evil to fight or missions for Natasha and Clint to go on, breakfast was eaten on Steve's floor.

The subject of Pepper's irritation was JARVIS' usual morning wakeup call, intended for Tony, with whom she shared the floor. "Excuse me, Mr. Stark, but I sense a large concentration of threatening magic in the tower's present area." It was not the real problem, except for the fact that JARVIS was wrong, even if it was impossible.

At first they had assumed that it was somehow from Loki's presence in the tower, but the AI had attested to the fact that an unknown life form in the tower was putting out various levels of dark magical energy. Tony had wondered if Thor's hammer was making the sensors of magic he had installed go crazy, but three days and nights of work to adjust the program had come to naught.

So the only thing left to assume was that JARVIS was wrong.

Except Tony Stark knew that that statement was impossible.

Something else was wrong. He had scanned Natasha, Bruce, Clint, Pepper, himself, and Steve with no results, and Thor with the wrong results. The genius scratched the back of his neck as Pepper cooked.

He needed to find his Sciencebro.

* * *

"I'm telling you, he's not wrong. I'm not sure what is, but—" Tony ran his fingers through his already-messy hair while Bruce half-heartedly sipped decaf from a thermos.

"And it can't be Thor?"

"Nope."

"Then scan the rest of the tower's inhabitants." he suggested, hands going to his glasses. Tony frowned in disbelief and sighed heavily."It would take me six hours to process all the data. I'll come back as soon as JARVIS has results."

"You don't have to—"

"Thanks for the help, Brucey!" Tony half-bounded from the room like a child. The scientist sighed heavily, rubbing his temples before turning back to his own project of molecule destabilization force-fields.

* * *

Darcy walked into the gym to find Agent Romanoff busily engaged in hand-to-hand with Agent Barton, who she was allowed to call Clint and talked even less then his partner, often disappearing for most of the day. She sat on the bleacher and watched for a few minutes until Agent Romanoff forced Clint to the mat, wrapping her thighs around his neck and put a futuristic-looking gun to his skull. It was easy to hear what they said, with the echo in the drafty, large room.

Clint chuckled. "New toy, Tasha?" a ghost of a smile crossed her face and she slid off him so that they were both sitting on the mat and turned the weapon over in her hands before handing it to him.

"Stark made it for me," she explained. "I prefer mine." she glanced at the clock before standing. "Almost time for the meeting." Clint nodded, rising as well. She nodded to the door. "You go ahead. I'll catch up."

Clint looked like he was about to argue, but didn't as he left the room. Agent Romanoff walked over to where Darcy was sitting, picking up the water bottle she had most likely put there when they came in.

"I never see him anymore," the older woman's voice was quiet enough to be mistaken for talking to herself, which was what Darcy assumed she was doing until her gaze fell on the lab assistant. "Do you see him?"

Slightly perplexed by the question, Darcy nodded, talking hesitantly. The redhead scared her a little. "Sure...? I saw him right now."

"Mhmm..." Agent Romanoff sat down next to Darcy and took a swig from her water bottle. "That is the only time he seems...like Clint anymore," she sighed, looking away. "He still has nightmares about last month."

"What happened last month?"

"Classified under SHIELD. It's not the point, I'm only asking you because I happened to read what your minor was."

Psychology was what she had chosen, mostly because her friends were taking it and the teacher was cute, but she was still perturbed that Agent Romanoff asked her for psychological help with Clint.

"Are you two—" she was cut off by Agent Romanoff shaking her head.

"Have you been listening to Stark again?" her eyes showed something that may have been a wistful laugh. "No. I'm just his partner, but I'm also his friend, and whatever happened last month bothered him."

"Oh." she felt awkward as Agent Romanoff stood. "Well, it's cool that you don't want to, like, kill him half the time or anything, Agent Romanoff..." this actually made the woman smile in bemusement, confusing Darcy but glad she hadn't angered Agent Romanoff with her stupid comment.

"You'd be surprised, actually," she said, walking towards the door. She stopped suddenly, hand poised on the doorknob. "Oh, and Darcy?"

"Yeah?"

"You may call me Natasha."

* * *

_Six Hours Later_

"Hey, Bruce, come here," said Tony. "You'll wanna see this."

"What?" Bruce was hungry and it was almost dinner time, so he tried to make it quick until he heard what JARVIS had to say. "Holy—"

"I know." he stared at the hologram, then at Bruce.  
"We can't tell the others." Bruce willed himself to stay calm.  
"I know, but we can't just ignore it."  
"I was actually meaning to create something that erases dark magic. This just gives me an excuse." it was obviously a lie, a desperately spun lie.

"Yeah, I'll help." Tony didn't seem too excited to do the task.  
"You do realize it could be murder. If it's not stable enough, she could...er, explode, for lack of better word." Bruce pressed his lips together.  
"Don't let that happen, then. I'll work on it with you; I'll make it stable." Tony said. Bruce's fists clenched.

"If it's anything like Loki..." he paused, "We won't survive another—" he turned quickly on his heel, fed up with the entire routine. Tony poking him randomly to get him to Hulk out, the way Natasha discreetly took a step away from him whenever they were in close proximity, how by default Clint ignored him (though he ignored everyone) was proving too much for his nerves, more then the missions they had to face, even.

Tony watched his back before turning to screen. Tell me this isn't happening. He didn't realize he had said it out loud until JARVIS told him that, unfortunately, sir, it was. This could split the team apart.

Then he got an idea.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: I am assuming that the Thor movie was right around the end of season four. I'm not quite sure about this chapter, because it does a lot of incredibly non-obvious hinting. Mostly it's about the Avengers and SHIELD figuring out that there's more magic out there then Loki. They don't know about Lighthaven, etc, as it is stated, because that is managed by SWORD. Happy reading!**

**Chapter Three:**

As Tony stood, thinking, the computer screen lit up, revealing Steve's unimpressed face. "I assume you aren't going to bother with the meeting?" Crap. He had forgotten about that one.

"I need a few minutes."

"Fury's already here," was his response. "And he wants to talk about the Lokis of the world."

"Would-be world conquerors with Glow-Sticks-of-Destiny?" he responded wryly, picking up a napkin that he had scribbled something on (it had to have been important at the time, but now he couldn't even recognize it) and putting it aside to cross-examine later. Steve frowned, shaking his head.

"Magical threats, Tony."

"That's convenient," he remarked, fiddling with a screwdriver that Thor must have been the last one to touch, because he shocked himself hard, making him mutter a bloody oath. Shooting him a look of disapproval at his language, the super-solider turned his head to the side.

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," the rich scientist waved his hand. Steve looked unconvinced but continued on anyway. "Fury told me to tell you, and I quote, that if you miss the meeting, it'll just put you _in the dark later_."

Tony slapped himself on the forehead. "Damn it, SHIELD already knows about...well, whatever the hell is going on. Or at least, Fury does. I wouldn't put it past him not to tell anyone else." he knew he was hopelessly confusing his teammate but didn't care, running out of the room to catch the meeting.

* * *

"Thank you for joining us, Mr. Stark," Fury said loudly as the door creaked and everyone turned in their chairs to look at him. Tony, who had been trying to sneak in, just glared. "We were just about to start without you."

"Oh, dear, we couldn't have that..." he mumbled as he sat down in a chair at the back of the room. He wondered if the pilot he had met at the door was really going to valet park his jet. How the hell was he going to get out of the helicarrier otherwise?

"If you're finished, Stark..." Fury leveled a one-eyed deathglare at him and began the briefing.

"As none of you know, there was a major attack on the earth about one month before Loki's New Mexico Attempt which was largely unnoticed but a threat nonetheless. From the North Pole onward, the world began to freeze over. Even in places such as Ecuador the normal temperature dropped by an average of twenty-seven point six degrees Fahrenheit."

"Loki, then." Steve suggested, frowning in confusion. "Why tell us now? He's being punished in Asgard."

"No, the dates and times don't match up with Loki's extracted revenge upon his brother. Besides, Loki has never shown enough power capacity, let alone ambition, to freeze the world, but this looks like that's exactly what our mark was trying to accomplish."

"But why freeze the world over, unless..." Natasha tapped her fingernails on the side of her face as she leaned forward. "Unless he doesn't live on Earth?"

"SHIELD is currently trying to cooperate with SWORD for more information about the threat."

"Hold on, hold on—SWORD?" asked Steve, glancing at his teammates. Natasha looked towards him conspiratorially, speaking softly.

"Like SHIELD, except for extraterrestrial and space threats. Abigail Brand is the director. Competent woman." Fury cleared his throat and she looked back up at him, motioning for him to continue and making Tony smirk.

"Another anomaly is that this attack left out random places around the world: an Irish beach, an Italian forest, South American rainforest, the ruins of a Chinese palace, and a small island with the remains of what was believed to be a Spartan city on it were all completely unaffected by the ice, their temperatures remaining the same, while a small city in California called Gardenia bore the brunt of the freezing, more then anyplace else."

"All of the places left unaffected were largely uninhabited." Bruce said matter-of-factly. "There could be a connection."

"Maybe so, but Gardenia had been host to many other strange happenings for about one month. High rates of vandalism and property damage with seemingly no culprits, plants growing gigantic and attacking people, and a huge chunk of ice on the same day the Earth froze, falling straight for the city."

"Why has no one heard of this until now?" asked Steve, turning around and giving Tony a you-better-participate-now look. "I would think an iceberg could make the news."  
"It never reached the ground." Fury responded. "It came into collision with a fireball. Interestingly enough the incidents started around the time an urban legend of Gardenia's group of six or seven superheroes or guardian angels," he heard mutters of 'Seriously?' and related comments around the table. "Who flew around the city and kept it safe came into being. It got very popular, so much so that barley anyone reported or mentioned the threats in the local media; most of them believed that the 'angels' would protect them."

"That's ridiculous." stated Clint, speaking for the first time since coming in. Natasha and Steve nodded in agreement, but Thor shook his head.

"Is it not possible there were mortal heroes—or, in fact, your realm's own angels were indeed protecting the people of the city?" he questioned. Fury shook his head decisively.

"Tests was inconclusive. All we know is that the town definitely has residues of magic, both slightly familiar, and unfamiliar. SWORD's data on the matter is restricted, and SHIELD's data on the matter is restricted, and currently no one can speak freely to one another."

Tony sat in the chair listening aptly (for once) to what Fury said while he panicked (but not really panicking, just kind of panicking, because Tony Stark doesn't really panic) about Darcy. If she gave off dark magical energy similar to Loki's, she could be evil in disguise, but he didn't think so. She had a very simple backstory, the most ordinary to be found, and that brought him to the next question.

Just like Erik, how many others had Loki possessed and not had to let go of? He missed the rest of what the director of SHIELD said to end the meeting but he was already running the numbers and possibilities: no one else but Bruce could know that they were building the beam and no one else could know when they used it on Darcy.  
"Oh, and Stark?" he paused, stifling a sigh, at Fury's voice and turned.

"What?"

"It's the Avenger's responsibility to make sure that all security threats are eliminated from their own building."

"Wha—"

"Speaking frankly Darcy Lewis should never have been able to set foot in the building with such readings as we picked up when she and her employer were brought here. I want whatever's happened undone in whatever way possible." It was times like there that reminded Tony of why he _wasn't_ the director of SHIELD and Nick Fury _was_.

"You don't know what you're talking about." was all he said before leaving in a hurry. He had the concerned feeling that Fury knew exactly what he was talking about.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four  
I own nothing! Enjoy!

* * *

"Icy, this isn't working," the most anger-challenged Trix sister pounded her fist on the concrete floor before wincing and rubbing her hand. "She isn't going to come back. Your plan failed."

"It did not," her older sister hissed back childishly, slouching against the other wall, arms and legs crossed. "How would you know anyway?"

"Because that's what always happens." Stormy sat Indian-style with one leg outward. She leaned forward to touch her toe calmly. "We haven't won in a long time."

"We did, too!" Icy knew she sounded like a six year old but didn't care, instead rising kicking the still-sitting Stormy in the hip, as they used to do in their childhood and she refused to play what Icy wanted. Their behavior had never really gotten better. The battles got bigger, the stakes were raised higher, but in the end, Icy was bossy and Stormy was stubborn and that was one reason why they were sitting in this cell, with it's concrete walls and floors and ceiling.

Stormy rose and kicked her sister in the skins through her robe, making her cry out in rage and slap Stormy across the face. Stormy was not satisfied, however. Lashing out again, she kicked Icy in the stomach, pushing her into the wall. "SHE'S NOT COMING! YOUR PLANS NEVER WORK!" she screamed in her older sister's face.

Icy wasn't even bothering to fight back, instead opting for the more vocal method of yelling out, "She is! You both don't know what I have planned yet! It's you two who always mess everything up!"

"It is not!" Icy took advantage of Stormy's distraction and pushed her down to the floor, hard, then proceeding to stomp upon her left hand. Stormy cried out and punched Icy behind her knee, bringing her down with Stormy, before pushing her over and over, trying to get her to fall from her knees.

Icy clawed at Stormy's face, long fingernails catching in her curly hair. She grabbed hold of her younger sister's scalp and tried to slam her head into the floor. Stormy resisted, reaching up and grabbing one of the curly locks of hair escaping from Icy's ponytail, pulling on it as hard as she could before pushing her feet into Icy's chest, knocking her over while enabling Stormy to stand up. It didn't last long, however, as Icy grabbed Stormy's ankles and pulled her down too.

They hit and scratched and punched until they both lay on the floor, facing each other and barely able to move. Icy's forehead and nose were bleeding. She let blood run down her fact with no attempt to stop it, while Stormy regarded her angrily from two rapidly blackening-eyes. "I meant what I said."

"She's coming for us, Stormy." Icy's voice was raspy and Stormy brushed away the moment of concern she had felt wondering if she accidentally damaged Icy's vocal cords.  
Stormy didn't answer, instead staring at the wall behind Icy as she drifted off.

* * *

Darcy Lewis knew scientists.

She knew a few scientists personally; Tony, Bruce and Jane, and had met several others at parties the Avengers and Jane and she had attended, people like Reed Richards, Charles Xavier and Hank Pym. They were, upon examination, mostly the same.

Scientists drank a lot of coffee, locked themselves in their labs for days on end, forgot that they were human and not just taller versions of their robot assistants and therefore needed to eat, sleep, and shower, and didn't come up for air until their latest projects were finished.

This did not explain what Tony and Bruce were doing.

In the past few weeks, the two had been locking themselves in their lab like they expected to get the plague or something similar. She had been bored once and tried to come down and DUM-E had sprayed her with a fire extinguisher. It was just cruel, especially since she had to walk all the way back upstairs like such.

Oh, well. Steve, in his naivety, asked the question anyway. "Where's Tony and Bruce? They're missing movie night."

"Downstairs." an annoyed Pepper, lethargic Clint, bored Natasha, and irritated Darcy answered at the same time. "Start the movie already, Steve." Darcy instructed. "They're not coming up any time soon."

"What is this 'Transformers' we are watching?" Thor asked, turning to Jane. She bit her lip, trying to think of a way to explain the movie.

"See, there are these aliens—" Clint started. Thor's face darkened and he quickly put he movie down. "Right. Bad choice. Next movie, then. Okay, we have...no, Tasha, we all kind of want to sleep after watching this, plus, you're the only one who knows Russian...Steve, the Sound of Music is...no. Just no. No Sound of Music. What the—" he rifled through the others' choices before coming to Darcy's and sighing. "That's it. We're watching the Muppet Movie."

"Hey, Darcy, stand still for a sec."

In all fairness, it was dark, and the voice sounded disembodied, so Clint was _perfectly justified_ in leaping up and hanging from the lighting fixture for the five seconds it supported his weight before both man and glass crashed to the floor. Tony stepped out of the darkness. Steve sent a concerned and slightly scared glance at Natasha when she breathed a tiny sigh of relief and slipped the knife back into her bra.

Pepper stood up, frowning at Tony before looking around as if she expected Bruce to pop out at any second. "What are you doing up here?"

"Asking Darcy stand still." he waited. "Did you get that, JARVIS, buddy?" when the AI confirmed that yes, he had gotten the reading (whatever that was), he turned and rushed downstairs. Pepper sighed heavily and went to get the Avenger's-House-Rule-Chart-To-Be-Followed-At-All-Times-With-No-Exceptions,-Yes,-Tony,-That-Includes-You, where she wrote in Sharpie at the bottom 'No experimenting on Darcy' and left it at that.

There was broken glass to clean up, and Steve was inching away from Natasha very slowly while she tweezed broken bits of glass out of Clint's arm, and Thor was bellowing about something or other, and therefore movie night was rather ruined, and everyone decided to go to bed.

Except Darcy, who instead walked down to the lab. "Oh, hey, Da—DARCY." Bruce seemed almost frightened by her presence. "What are you doing here?"

"That's ridiculously well timed," Tony said from across the room. He seemed to be adjusting a small lever. "We need you to try something for us."

"Uh...okay." Darcy frowned, and Bruce shook his head.  
"I can't do this, Tony. I can't make this...whatever happens, I can't make it happen." Darcy's eyes filled with confusion as Bruce squeezed his hands together over and over, a method she now knew was what he used to avoid extra stress. "I can't do this."

"Do what?" as the words left her lips she caught sight of something descending from the ceiling. It looked like...well, it looked like a cross between a robotic arm and an equally robotic gun. "Hold on, Darcy." Tony's words sounded grim as a beam of light blinded her and all she felt was furnace-like heat.

As soon as the machine turned off, she stumbled forward, muttering a few curses and feeling none too different, except her head hurt. Then came the feeling instead her skull, as if something were being ripped away, like bandaids on her mind, and different feeling something flooding in. She closed her eyes and after what felt like an eternity, the feeling stopped.

Fighting against the blackness that threatened to eclipse her vision, she blinked rapidly before looking around, memories of life in the tower hazy and real life memories returning rapidly. "Darcy, you okay?" a woman...Pepper's... voice hovered over her and Darcy wondered how long she'd been squatting with her hands at her temples. She couldn't let them know anything had changed.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just need a little sleep." she feigned lightheartedness expertly, rising and trying to ignore how hoarse her throat felt. Had she been screaming? She hoped not. It would be undignified for these losers to realize that she had been confused or scared.

She was Darcy Trix, middle sister of the Trix and as of now, last hope of the coven. If only her memories on Earth weren't so vague...

She had to escape.

* * *

A/N: Was hoping to show a more protective, purposeful, ruthless side of Tony Stark. Bruce just didn't want what happened to him to happen to anyone else. I own nothing and might not be able to update as often due to school.


	6. Chapter 5

**Warrior fairy antics. Oh, my word; they mean well, but...Yeesh. Darcy being dark, Tony being ridiculous, and Steve being long-suffering. I described a specific unnamed Warrior Fairy who appears throughout the series, but Seraph was just for this chapter; I can't foresee her appearing any time soon. **

"I demand you untie me! My Lady Nebula will not be put aside because humanity is blind!" a young woman with long, light blue hair, a green and fuchsia dress, and blue and gray wings on her back fought against the shackles that bound her hands behind her back and her wings together, glaring fiercely up at the assembled Avengers from the ground. A faint Irish or Scottish accent was barely present in her voice.

"So what happened?" asked Steve. Tony rolled his eyes, motioning towards their captive, then at the small expanse of rubble in the Manhattan street. "While you and Thor were off galavanting who-knows-where, Little-Miss-Sunshine started attacking people who said they didn't believe in her cult. Not too bad looking, though, reminds me of a blonde I once—"

"We went with Jane to pick up a few things from her lab in New Mexico and came back to hear JARVIS tell us you were here. It isn't our fault the battle was over by the time we arrived." he prodded the prisoner with his foot curiously. "Where's it supposed to be from?"

"It says it's from the Old Earth, but we're assuming Asgard. Do you recognize it, Thor?" Natasha asked, digging in her purse to hand Clint a pair of sweatpants, which he handed to Bruce blankly, a haunted look in his eyes. Thor shook his head.

"This maiden is not a true Asgardian warrior. Truly, she cannot be more then a minor inconvenience against our might." this time, Clint was forced to contradict the god.  
"It...she...it had a spear, like...the Other Guy even had a hard time taking her out." his partner rubbed his shoulder in a comforting way while simultaneously glaring down at the winged woman.

Tony began a scan. "Sir, I feel it is notable to inform you that the organism's biological and magical readings share anomalous similarities with Darcy Lewis's readings." he stopped. Maybe this was it. "I'm keeping her."

"What?" Bruce and Steve exclaimed at the same time.

"I'm keeping her. Come on, help me get her into the quinjet." he picked up the chain as if it were a leash. The woman glared and Steve sighed in a long-suffering manner.

"Tony, you can't keep a human being as a pet."

"I don't think she's human. Besides, she can polish DUM-E and stuff."

"Fury will kill you."

"He probably will anyway. Come on...you. Do you have a name? What do other hot mosquito girls call you?" the last few sentences were directed at the captive, who got to her feet quickly, muttering something rude under her breath.

"Seraph." she glanced around the circle. "I refuse to be held captive in such a way. I serve only my queen!" this earned her a glance from Steve.

"So Seraph is your name...Is she some sort of...angel? What queen are you talking about?" he'd feel rather awkward if they had tied up some sort of divine messenger and just suggested making her their slave.

Seraph stuck out her chin jauntily, eyes hard. "The Queen of the Earth, my lady Nebula. It is the very humans we strive to help are the ones who reject the magic we are introducing back to this...shell of an Earth," at the end of the sentence she sniffed haughtily, looking around. "When I walked the Earth before imprisonment, it was a dimension-wide power."

Tony twirled his finger around his temple, then nodded to Seraph. "So we're all being ruled by your queen, and we don't even know it?" he glanced at the others. "You learn something new every day."

"Don't be stupid," she sneered. "We cannot rule you if you don't know who we are."

"That's not the point right now. I need to put a name on you for another...project I'm working on, so come on, hop in." Tony poked Seraph in the shoulder, gesturing towards the jet.

"I already know I am a Warrior Fairy. What use is it that others—" she was cut off by Steve, who picked her up by the shoulders and set her down in the middle of the jet. "I'm beginning to think Tony's right about her mental state." Seraph muttered something like Damn you at the super solider.

Tony prepared to blast off to fly beside the jet. "Just don't kill her on the way home. Trust me, it will be hard." This had Steve worried. "What do you mean by—"

Iron Man was gone.

Rolling his eyes, he turned back to Seraph and the other Avengers. "So do you think she's Asgardian?" he asked Thor. Maybe she could share a cell with Loki. The mysterious woman narrowed her eyes at him, before suddenly lashing out with her leg and kicking his shield out of his admittedly infirm grip, catching him by surprise. Before he could react there was the sound on skin on skin and Natasha was standing over her, one foot on her head, before nudging her to a sitting position with her foot.

Seraph spat out blood and saliva at her oppressors, her blind fearlessness both stupid and slightly inspiring. "You will pay for that."

"She's not invited to movie night." mumbled Clint, whose hand was hovering around his quiver in a very impulsive, arrow-through-the-knee fashion, despite the fact that he was piloting. In spite of herself the winged woman drew back, her wings curling at the edges as if she wanted to pull them around her body.

"Please tell me we're almost there." muttered Bruce, staring out the window. Clint shook his head.

"No such luck."

Sereph struggled angrily. "I wish Aurora had left this planet to freeze over and die."That stopped the remaining Avengers cold. With no puns intended, either.

"You know who froze our planet?" it was Steve that asked the question. "We might actually have to keep you." Seraph growled under her breath.

"Numbskulls."

"Please tell me we're almost there." it was Natasha who said this, but in a scary, low voice, as if she was weighing the pros and cons of tossing Seraph out the window.

* * *

"Okay, we have about five minutes before SHIELD finds out and picks her up, so let's try and make this quick." cautioned Tony before stepping with Steve, Natasha and Clint into the room.

Seraph was chained to a chair and her wings were chained to the chair as well. Now that her capture was definite, she seemed slightly less defiant and more frightened, but still refused to comply.

"Who froze over the Earth?"

"Lady Aurora, major fairy of the North." she replied, holding her head proudly, though not refusing to answer. Steve was about to ask her where she lived when Darcy came through the doors looking confused.

"I'm...sorry, I thought that this was the kit—" she stopped short, staring at Seraph. Seraph stared back; both parties' eyes growing wide. Seraph shuddered and began to struggle again.

"Get her out of here! Don't let her near me! She's—" Darcy interrupted her screams quickly.

"Can I be alone with her for a second? I, uh, can convince her to confess in, like, three seconds flat." the others looked skeptical but didn't think it could hurt, silently leaving the room to Seraph's screams. Darcy checked to make sure that the soundproof room was locked. They wouldn't bother checking the cameras until after she was gone, and her ticket was here now.

Seraph stopped yelling when the door locked, instead staring up at Darcy with wide eyes. "Filthy witch."

"How can you tell?" it was a legitimate question, or so Darcy though until Seraph nodded to Darcy's shorts.

"You have the mark of the Trix coven on your thigh." the brunette slapped her hand over the ornate black 'T'. Stormy had her mark on her back and Icy had hers on her ankle, both places being easy to hide. Darcy had forgotten about the mark and the ongoing attempts of hiding it that she had done all her life. Seraph smirked, despite the almost palpable nervousness she obviously felt, at the witch's insecurity.

Darcy had to get cracking. She grabbed the fairy by the hair, causing Seraph to cry out. Not her problem. "How do I get to the Magix dimension?"

"I...I don't know." Seraph struggled. Darcy pulled harder, then came up with another idea, this one more emotional then physical. "_Optical darkness_."

Seraph screamed bloody murder when her sight was taken away. Darcy leaned in closer. "Tell me how I get to Magix."

"They...only explained...it to us...recently...I don't quite understand it—"

"Now." she insisted.

"The Magix Dimension is...Magix is some sort of pocket or portal very close to Earth...you go into it and you're...you're in the Magix solar system...you know because Earth...you can still see it...it's tiny, like looking through a window."

"How do I find the portal?"

"You need a craft—" before Seraph finished the sentence Darcy was dropping to her knees, melting the chains, handing her her scepter and untying her wings.

"Just don't get caught, pixie." were her last words to Seraph before pushing her out the window and, as almost an afterthought, bringing back her sight.

There wasn't time to fix the window as the others burst in, wary and confused, asking her what had happened.

"She escaped." Darcy stated, turning and walking out while the others yelled for her to come back and asked what had happened. She had places to be.

**A/N: Today is the first day of school! Um...it terrifies me :)**


	7. Chapter 6

A/N:** So, do you like the new cover? I didn't want to use A:EMH Amora because I'm going to use her comic character but this way I can say that they're all screenshots. Like the cover. Click on it. Worship it.**

**Anyway.**

**Amora seems to be a good candidate for a Trix sister, maybe as a backup or something; she just has smaller eyes and a bigger rack. Look at her on the cover and acknowledge I'm right.**

* * *

Darcy tread the room in her socks, shoes in hand. The plan wasn't necessarily not to he heard, it was just to be in the sky by the time anyone alerted the Avengers. The already dark rooms were made darker by her magic, but she couldn't risk tampering with the security cameras for risk of JARVIS alerting his master.

She felt a prickle run down her spine, and stopped, letting purple light eclipse her eyes as purple radar flowed from either side of her head. There was someone watching her from behind. She turned around.

"Hello, Natasha." she bit her lip when the woman emerged from the darkness.

"Hello, Darcy. What are you doing up?"

"Just restless, I guess," she replied, playing with a strand of hair nervously. Natasha didn't look satisfied but nodded and turned to go. Theoretically that should have been that, but there had been a question on Darcy's mind since her memory was restored.

"If you let someone...do something to you that you didn't want to do, because you had to do something for someone else because...you needed to repay your...parents?" _Ancesstresses?_ "Mother? For everything they had done for you?" Natasha looked confused.

"There's no debt between a parent and a child." Natasha quietly responded. Darcy nodded uneasily. "What family do you have, anyway, Darcy? It doesn't say on your file." frowning with the knowledge that she had a file, the witch reckoned it was best to tell the truth. She would find out soon enough.

"My mother and her sisters were shot when I was fifteen, and I don't know who my father was. I have two...sisters who don't know who their father was, either."  
"Oh. Where are your sisters now?" her face remained neutral but Darcy detected a hint of suspicion in Natasha's voice.

"Uh...jail. Drunk driving." Darcy wished Natasha would leave her alone, and soon she turned, doing just that. With her powers returned, she floated to the opening of the ship, which Tony's AI opened for her. With that, she sat down.

Damn earth and its primitive mechanics!

However, she had been Riven Blackthorne's girlfriend for over an entire school year, and even if he hadn't really been in control of that, he did like crafts, levibikes, and cars. That, combined with the one year of Red Fountain engineering elective her junior year, she was able to coordinate liftoff.

Now what?

Unable to keep any kind of magical artifact, she would have to rely on a badly adapted spell for any hope of finding the portal. It had been given to all Cloudtower students to be able to guide themselves back to the college in case of emergency.

"Direct me back to Cloudtower." she was surprised at how quiet her voice was when she was alone. She felt the faint crackle of energy and smell of ink that meant her magic was being used, and the ship righted itself.

She traveled along for a few minutes at that pace when she was able to work the jets on the back (well, the quinjet speed up drastically, so she assumed she had). She glanced at the clock. It was twelve-fifty eight. Darcy yawned, then sat up straighter.

Witches were born psychopaths. They had no problem with lying and never felt guilt, enjoyed manipulating but not having long-term partners. If Riven hadn't been feeding her information about the pesky Alfea and Red Fountain students, he wouldn't even have lasted as long as he had.

Witches weren't the loving sort; Darcy didn't exactly love her sisters, but she did trust them, and there was a comfortable feeling between them, like an imitation of love, perhaps. Growing up with a mother, two aunts, and two cousins in one house had certainly been interesting, and Darcy often wondered what it would be like if their unknown fathers were part of their daily lives.

The ship stopped with a start at what seemed to be a hole in the sky, showing another, different night sky behind it. She glanced down; the ship was fairly low, low enough for her to read the 'welcome to Gardenia' sign below her. She pushed forward on the joystick, ridding backwards several feet, before pulling back on the joystick, rocketing into the portal.

"Oh, darkness." she cursed as pink sparkles exploded from both sided of the portal to announce her entrance into Magix. She spotted a planet a few miles away that seemed likely to have directions to Lighthaven. Rather proudly turning the joystick, Darcy then came upon the realization that she had no idea how to stop.

Crapola.

She had blinded Bloom, driven Flora to the edge of fury, made Musa cry, knocked Tecna unconscious, almost choked Stella to death, escaped Lighthaven—and now she was going to die by crashing her jet into some planet. Wonderful—

When she felt and heard the ship start impact, she screamed and wished she had put on her seatbelt. Holding tightly to the head of the seat, she was jerked forward and her hands loosened. She hit her head on the seat and fell onto the roof-which-was-now-the–floor.

Sitting up, she looked around, rubbing the back of her neck, breathing hard. "Darkness." she cursed again, trying to straighten her hair shakily. "Darkness, darkness, darkness."  
But she lay on the ceiling of the craft for a long time, eyes closed and just feeling, almost thankful to be once again in the place where everything was razor sharp in her sight, where she and everyone else was hyper-aware of the magic firecrackling in the air: Magix.

Opening her eyes, she rose, eyes adjusting immediately to the darkness as wires and screens sparked and flashed. She crawled to the door and blasted it open, glaring at surprised faces, turning, and flying in the direction of civilization while ignoring shouts demanding her presence back at the craft. Flagging down a flying craft-for-hire, she directed him to Lighthaven. The trip took only a few minutes and soon they were landing on the dock of the planet.

This would be hard.

Darcy ran her fingers through her long brown hair. As her fingers touched it, it turned as golden as Stella of Solaria's, shortening itself to shoulder length. Shuddering at the color, she blinked rapidly, her eyes slowly turning green.

"Miss?"

"What?" she asked, startled when the driver turned around. "Oh. Yes?"

"Fare. The meter's still running." her eyes widened. She had no money, though she didn't really care. She ran for the doors, blasting her way through without checking if they were unlocked or not, and headed for the entrance to Lighthaven at a sprint. The driver got out and chased her, but she turned a corner and stopped to catch her breath, effectively losing him.

There! Lighthaven was apparently receiving shipments of cargo from somewhere else, because the back garage door was opened. Dashing in, her break-in-attempt was interrupted by a voice.

"Hey! You! What're you doing here?" she turned to see a worker frowning down on her. Not a guard, thank darkness, making it easy for her to blast him in the chest with a spell (that didn't have any flashes of violet light or hammering noises but you realized when you saw what it could do that one spell that can kill a man is worth three spells that go bing) and run into the building.

It was in the storage area, a door probably leading to the kitchens was somewhere around here. She used her radar spell to find it, melting it open and crashing through, hitting the maid who had been scrubbing the counter before running out and into the lobby of Lighthaven.

Turning, she walked as calmly as she could towards the hallway marked 'CELLS: DANGEROUS. RESTRICTED' and opened the doors, thanking her lucky dead-stars no one had noticed—

—and literally walked into three guards. Darcy hit her head on the sheath of a sword and the loss of concentration dissipated her weak, tiring illusion. She was running out of energy but kicked and fought, fist with fists and then with magic until all three guards were collapsed on the ground. She rose up, exhausted, and walked the rest of the way to her sisters' cell.

Using magic to blast down the door, which curled from the top inward as if it were to roll up, she looked inside and saw Icy sitting, with her back to Darcy, and Stormy sitting with her back to both of them in the opposite corner.

"Ladies." she said quietly, stepping over the melting metal. Icy leapt up, followed by Stormy.

"I told you she'd come back," whispered Icy fiercely, glaring at Stormy, whom Darcy noticed had a black eye. "Here, let me help you with that." she froze the metal, making it hard enough to stand on without getting one's shoes ruined. Stormy just stared, half-angry and half-glad.

There was something newly, devastatingly desperate in Icy's eyes. Though she had not yet experienced it, Darcy recognized it right away. Icy was twenty-two, almost twenty-three. She herself was twenty-one, and Stormy was twenty years old. "I told her you'd come back." Icy repeated, before sitting down on the ground in the manner of a young woman who has just realized that she is such, and no longer a teenager fighting with little girls.

* * *

**If Icy, as the oldest, was a senior (18) when the Winx were freshmen (15) that makes her four years older then her opponents (except for Stella, who was sixteenwhen she was a freshman and only three years younger.) **

**Please R&R!**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Ladyyuuki16: To be honest, I'm not sure that the Winx will definitely put in an appearance here. It just doesn't seem like the Avengers would take them seriously. But we'll definitely see. So who watched the premier season five Winx Club episode? I did! It was okay...artwork was better then last season's, and the outfits were much more detailed. **

* * *

"We need to get out of here." Stormy said, trying to be sensible for once. Her sisters nodded vigorously. Darcy frowned, thinking, but Icy already knew how they would leave the planet. "We'll steal one of the emergency crafts."

Nodding, the three prepared to go out the door before Icy stopped them, tugging at her prison robes. "We need our clothes."

"What? No! We can get new clothes somewhere else. Let's just get out now, while the getting's good." Darcy stared at her leader like she was out of her mind. Icy shook her head.

"We have to get our clothes."  
"Why?" asked Stormy, who was getting frustrated. "The sooner we leave, the sooner we can get back to beating the life out of Flora and her little friends!"

"That's not what we're going to do when we get out of here," Icy replied. "I'm sick of this cycle of breaking out and being recaptured. We'll never be allowed to break it. It's embarrassing! But with the power of an entire planet behind us, the universe will soon be under our command before those little Alfea brats even know it."

"Harnessing the powers of one planet to overtake them each, one by one?" Darcy replied. "Diabolical, Icy."

"Yeah, and when we've taken complete control, we'll take out Domino and snuff out the Dragon's Flame once and for all!" Stormy joined in, malice glittering in her eyes.  
"So come on, we need to get our clothes!" Icy's mouth tightened in anger and Darcy frowned fiercely.

"No, we don't. We can wear these! I have clothes where I was supposed to be living. Well, probably not anymore, but we can steal something! Just don't–" Icy slammed her fist into her palm.

"We need our clothes."

"Fine, then!" Darcy knew it would be useless to argue with her sister. "Where would they be?"

"Inventory, where all of our stuff is held." Icy turned and poked her head out of the doorway, making sure the hallway was clear before stepping out, her sisters following suit. They walked down the hall until they came to the door marked 'Inventory', which seemed only accessibly by a keypad.

"Let me handle this one," Stormy said, flexing her fingers before sending a small lightning streak out of the tip of her pointer finger, effectively frying the keypad and grinning. "Feels good to use my magic again, after those cell walls stole our powers."

"I agree." Darcy replied. Icy herself had to hide a smile as she stepped over to the door and turned it to ice with a wave of her hands. Clenching her fists made the nice shatter and the witch sisters were just about to step inside when there was a shout.

"Over there! The Trix have escaped!" a platoon of armed guards ran through the corridors and began to close in around the sisters. _"Ice wall_!" Icy yelled the spell in anger and created a barrier of ice between them and the guards, but she knew it wouldn't last long.

"Ugh! We must have set off some sort of silent alarm!" cried Darcy in frustration. Icy glanced at the others before dashing inside the inventory room. Stormy grabbed for her arm.

"What are you, crazy? Forget about the stupid clothes!" still, Icy stared at the walls, looking at the alphabetically sorted bins before coming to 'I'. She grabbed it down and began to paw through it, searching for her clothes.

"They're not here! It's not here!" Icy frowned, dropping the basket and going for the one marked 'T' instead, to no avail.

"Come on, Icy! There's no way we can hold them off for long—" the ice barrier, which had been cracking, finally broke into pieces under one of the guard's swords.

Icy frowned as if she was thinking about staying put, then turned. "They might've burned our clothes! Get to the incinerator! Hurry!" she turned and ran through the gap in the guards as they descended upon the other two girls, who flew into the air above them to follow their eldest sister.

They found Icy at the end of the corridor. She was sitting in the incinerator, sifting the ashes between her fingers. As soon as Darcy and Stormy got to here she began to look even harder. "Hurry, help me. We need to find—" she heard solders' footsteps, then Stormy began to fight the group while the other two sisters argued.

"We need to get out of here!"

"Look in that clothes basket over there," replied Icy. When neither sister moved, she yelled, "NOW!" making both Darcy scramble to look through the basket.

Darcy was just about to give up when her fingers brushed something made of leather. Pulling it out, she realized it was the crimson-magenta dress Stormy wore as her battle-outfit, and tossed it on the floor. Reaching back where she had found it, she hurriedly scooped the entire pile of clothes into her arms and screamed to her sister "I found our clothes!" over the screams, yells, and electric crackles of her youngest sister's combat.  
Icy ran over, not bothering to wipe the cinders from her clothes.

Stormy hit one soldier, and was slammed into the wall by another. She cried out, creating another electric shock. A guard rammed her in the back with his club, and she fell to the ground, taking two of her opponents with her. Meanwhile, Icy searched through the pile until she found something she had apparently been looking for: she picked up her right glove and slipped it on. Then, with a shout to Stormy, the Trix dashed away again.

Darcy was in the pilot's seat, with Icy beside her, passenger-seat-driving. "Drive." Darcy pulled back on the craft, which had similar controls to the jet. When they are in the air, Icy tossed the rest of their clothes at the floor. "You ladies and I can change, if we want." Stormy's eyes widened in disbelief that her sister would go thought that much trouble for a few outfits but the three of them wore the clothes anyway.

"So what's the first planet, Icy?"

"Simple, Dee. Remember when we went to Earth? We had nothing to stand in our way of conquest. If you say there are new protecters of the Earth, then we'll fight them—and win. Do they have magic powers?"

"Well, my mind is kinda fuzzy, but I do remember something that looked like a green tracking-troll..."

* * *

**Please R&R!**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Updates might be coming slower now; I'm taking some time off to give my story 'Sting' some love, because I am neglecting it and it sits in a sad little lump in the corner of my 'My Stories' page, crying. :( **

* * *

****Princess Bloom of Sparx (soon to be Queen Bloom of Eraklyon after Erendor abdicated and she and Sky married) was sitting on her balcony, savoring time where she could just sit with her fairy-puppy and Kiko, instead of with all of her smothering maids.  
"Isn't today beautiful?" she asked the blue rabbit that had been her best friend since before she met Stella. Then she sighed heavily.

Yes, every day was beautiful in her palace, the same beauty as the day before. Bloom was counting the days until she could see her friends again (9) the days until she married Sky (84 and eighteen hours, counting today), until she understood the war on his planet, until she could help with the Eraklyonion Civil War, until she could feel like a real fairy again, not a fairy statue, made of glass and kept in a case, where she could see the world but not touch it—

Bloom's cellphone rang, jolting her out of her not-quite miserable thoughts. Putting down her teacup, she crossed back into her bedroom, grabbing the phone off her bedside table. "Hello, Princess Bloom speaking. How may I help you?" inwardly, she rolled her eyes at the secretary-like words she was required to say.

Moments later, nothing but shock covered her face. "_What?_" she almost dropped the phone before regaining her composure. "I was there! I shook that Ms. Brand's hand! I—I—" she hung up, or maybe she was hung up on. She couldn't even tell. "I am going to look very, very stupid." she muttered, reaching for her dressing gown and hairbrush.

* * *

Bloom was not too surprised to see Tecna, Flora, and Layla already gathered at Alfea's gates once more when her craft landed. "Can you believe this?" she asked after obligationary hugs were exchanged.

"I sure can't," Flora piped up, frowning slightly. "I mean, I thought about them escaping again, but I was sure we'd be contacted."

Tecna bit her lip. "There was a forty-three-point-two percent chance of them escaping, and a seventy-five percent chance that they'd succeed. We can't say we're surprised."

"Look at what they did to the Omega Dimension," Layla added. "and the Lighthaven Therapy Simulation, and Red Fountain, and Cloud Tower, and—" she gestured to the school for fairies in front of which they were standing, "Alfea."

"Where're the other girls?" asked Bloom. Flora rolled her eyes, glancing at the doors. It was summertime here, and lots of girls had gone home for the vacation.

"Musa's father doesn't own a craft. Stella picked her up on her way, so they'll both be late."

"And possibly dead." laughed Layla. The other girl smiled in memory of the stark differences between the musical fairy and the sun-loving princess.

About fifteen minutes later, a brightly painted Solarian craft landed in the courtyard. Out stomped Stella, who stuck her nose in the air and made a point of not looking at Musa, who exited after her.

Bloom rolled her eyes at her best friend's dramatic actions. "What did you say, Musa?"  
"Nothing, I swear," the dark haired fairy replied, throwing her hands into the air in defeat but still stubbornly refusing to apologize for the unknown transgression.

"Come on, guys, why don't—"

"Girls?"

Bloom turned in synch with the Winx, eyes widening when she realized it was her old headmistress as the fairy-wing gates opened. Normally the situation would be cause for hugs and pleasantries, but today was much more dire.

"We need to talk, Ms. Faragonda." she said, crossing her arms in what she hoped was a businesslike manner.

"Of course, girls. What about?"

"In your office." Layla added.

"Like you don't know what about." Stella muttered under her breath (but still loudly enough for everyone to hear). Faragonda flinched at the comment as if she had been hurt.

* * *

Bloom didn't mince words when they were standing around Faragonda's desk, as they had so many times before. "Why were we not contacted when the Trix escaped Lighthaven?"

Faragonda paused before speaking. "Girls, we couldn't give that information to anyone. It was confidential. The entire coven is noted as evil, but this generation of girls have especially gained a reputation. There are so many urban legends about them that to know that they were out and about would cause a riot...how did you find out, anyway?"

Tecna blushed and looked down at the floor, fingertips brushing the holographic visual stimulator on her wrist.

"I see."

"We had a right to know." Stella argued, elbowing Flora to contribute to the point. The brunette fairy nodded gently, her anger tempered by sweetness.

"The Winx Club has beaten the Trix every time, Ms. F."

"We've been fighting these witches from Day One." Layla added.  
"Girls," Faragonda looked saddened by their anger. "Girls, if you feel like you should find the Trix, then do so. I'm sure you will have some ideas about where they are."

"Gardenia!" Bloom piped up. The headmistress pressed her lips together uncomfortably. "I'd be...careful there, girls. There have been lots of people around that area, asking questions."

"So? It's just police. We can deal." Stella waved her words away.

"Not police, this time, Stella. Earth is no stranger to combat, even if it is a stranger to magic, and Red Fountain and Saladin have been in contact with—well, you may have scared people, and scared people are people whose judgement isn't the best."

* * *

"I never liked this planet," Stormy complained as the Trix sat in the ruins of what had probably been an important building before something had wrecked havoc on it. "And when I'm queen of it, I want to destroy Gardenia myself."

Darcy held out another cigarette to her, a packet that had been full now only half-filled. "Try it again. And for Dragon's sake, not so hard this time."

Stormy held out one finger and allowed a tiny spark of electricity to light it, bringing her face close to it to observe it. "What does it do?"

"I'm not sure," muttered Darcy. "I just did what it said on the box. Smells good, though." she breathed deeply.

"Would you two shut up and think?" Icy said, irritated. "Can't even figure out how to use...one of these things." she grabbed the still-hit cigarette from Darcy, put half of it in her mouth, and promptly spat it out.

Darcy and Stormy politely said nothing.

"Icy, when will you tell us how you knew Darcy would get her memories back?" asked Stormy, scratching her head, accidentally igniting her hair, screaming and slapping at her head, and waiting for an answer in the span of five seconds.

"I didn't." was their leader's unenthusiastic reply.

"Then what did you know?" Darcy felt confused. "I thought this was the fail safe."

"No," Icy said, holding up her right hand. "This is."

Again, her sisters politely said nothing.


	10. Chapter 9

**Fact of life: the Mad Hatter's insanity delves from mercury, so one could argue that he's really just high all the time.**

* * *

"Did you try her cell phone?"

"I've been trying it for the past hour, and then I found it in her bedroom." Jane snapped at Bruce before recovering and biting her lip. "I'm sorry, I just don't know where she went."

"Okay, then, we can just ask the others." Bruce said calmly, pressing the intercom button on his table and asking for everyone to assemble in his lab. When told the news that Darcy was missing, Natasha's face grew haunted.

"Last night, she was going out—in, or something. I thought she was coming inside the tower, but she was going towards the launch."

"This better not be some kind of joke...JARVIS, give me feed from last night." Tony said, glancing at the ceiling.

The wall lit up as JARVIS projected the images onto it. Darcy was asking JARVIS to open the doors and the ceiling as she flew out shakily. The team stopped and Jane dropped her phone. "What the..."

Stumbling back, she caught Thor's hand before Tony spoke up, eyebrows raised and eyes hard.

"I'm not sure where she went, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out—anyone want to watch it again?"

"Oh, don't bother, I hate watching myself on television."

The team turned as one to see Darcy standing there, looking slightly...different, if one would. She wore a suit of dark purple leather and dark purple eyeshadow underneath her eyes, looking more like one of the supervillainesses that they fought then Jane's sarcastic, tomboy assistant.

"Darcy?" Bruce asked dumbly, stunned into terseness. She grinned maliciously in reply and he stared at Tony and knew they were both thinking the same thing.  
That was about time that Stark turned for the door to suit up, and Bruce was seriously considering following him; Darcy with some kind of weak magic had no chance against the Other Guy.

Only Tony didn't make it to the door, because someone else was there first—someone who sent a stream of crimson lightning straight into the arc and sent him sprawling. As he yelled in pain and electrocution, a young woman with curly gray-lavender hair stepped out of the doorway, laughing before glancing slyly at Darcy, who in turn looked at the computers behind them.

Natasha and Bruce, who both had knowledge of another arc's storage place in the room, went about attending to Tony as quickly as possible, panicky and jumping.  
Automatically, all the Avengers who weren't otherwise occupied followed Darcy's gaze to the computers, where in a puff of freezing air and blue haze another young woman appeared, this time with a long, silvery ponytail, sitting on the keyboard, one leg hanging down.

Immediately Steve, caught without his shield, and Clint, who was never far from his arrows or bow but only had a few on hand at the time went into a fighting stance while Natasha stood and clenched her fists.

Bruce tried to drag Tony to his feet while clutching the ruined arc in his other hand, while the millionaire clapped himself on the chest and panted in exhaustion. "Suit up," Bruce suggested, before realizing that they were trapped in the room. "Never—"

"JARVIS!" Tony yelled, and then the silver-haired woman said to Darcy, "I see our grand entrance has made an impression." she extended her hands, and sent a stream of ice daggers across the room at Hawkeye.

He leapt out of the way, making her stand angrily and aim again, pretty soon becoming occupied with taking the man out of commission. Steve picked up a silver tray of instruments, tipped them off of the platter, and threw it at her. She didn't see it and it hit her in the stomach, knocking her head into the wall and breaking her concentration.

Meanwhile, Darcy leapt at Widow, hitting her with violet energy and making her fall. Darcy, used to less agile opponents, gathered more magic to finish her off, but she rolled to the side, letting the magic singe the floor. Pulling out a knife, she stabbed Darcy in behind her thigh, making her gasp sharply and fall, but with one hand pressed to her wound she sent a flashing attack at the Black Widow, making her blink in blindness and confusion.

Widow stumbled backwards, shaking her head until the feeling dissipated. Darcy waved her hands, surrounding the older woman with copies of herself and preparing to blast her until Black Widow sent her bite at two, then another two, dissolving her dopplegangers.

Stormy had gone the easy route, creating a barrier around herself and simply bashing anyone who came near. Widow fell into the electric barrier, allowing Darcy to yank the knife out of her leg, and, not as used to pain as the human assassin, screamed. She tossed it on the floor and went for Widow again. Black Widow sent her bite at Darcy from behind her.

Thor had decided that, consequences be damned, he was going to get through Stormy's barrier and fight lightning with lightning. He continued to strike the force field, moving it several inches every time but not breaking it. Stupidly the witch dissolved the field and Thor's hammer crashed into the floor. Pulling it out again he swung it at Stormy, who threw up another shield.

When the hammer hit her shield again she fell back from the force of the blow and shot lightening at Thor. The Prince of Lightning deflected the blow and somehow bounced it off his hammer and back at Stormy. When her own magic hit her, it set off a chain reaction of the magic in her body and clothes, electrocuting her quite badly.

Glancing at her fallen sisters, Icy hovered above Avengers and witches alike, and energy was gathering in her hands when something knocked her out of the air and onto the floor, where she hit her head on concrete again and didn't rise.

"I didn't know you had an evil intern...Jane?" Clint quipped, turning around several times looking for the woman, who stepped out of the utility closet, close to tears of confusion, while Tony shook his now-smoking gauntlet.

Natasha poked Stormy with her toe. "They're Asgardian." she said flatly.  
"How do you know?" asked Thor, confused.

"Capes, boots, and magic." she replied.

"I do not know these maidens." Thor responded, squinting at them.

"Do you know everyone in Asgard?" muttered Tony rudely. "I don't suppose the realms have a yellow pages?"

Thor looked confused and was about to continue the debate when Clint poked him in the shoulder. "Uh, guys, what do we do with them?"

"Like Loki," Tony said as Bruce walked out of the Hulk-Room, still slightly green. "Pack 'em up and send 'em to Asgard."

* * *

**Honestly, there is no way that the Trix, when unprepared, might beat the Avengers. They're outnumbered and outgunned. **


	11. Chapter 10

**I still don't own anything. Thankies for the reviews! **

When Darcy woke up, her head was killing her, and her back hurt. Icy was shaking Stormy, who was still unconscious, and glanced over at her. "Oh. You're up. Good."

"What happened?" asked Darcy hoarsely.

"I only want to say it once," replied Icy. "Look around." she waited for her sister to comply.

They were sitting all together in a spherical glass prison. It had a thin, bright on the top of the cell, but the rest of the room they were in was dark.

"Huh?" Stormy looked around. Frowning, she held out her hands expectantly and waited for the magenta glow that came with her magic to appear. Icy rolled her eyes and slapped her sister's hands away. "Don't bother. Magic doesn't work in here. Sisters," she said, addressing the coven before her, "We underestimated the mortals. And we failed."

"Not all of them were mortal." Darcy added. "That guy with the hammer—he could've been your cousin, Storm."  
"Yeah, I—"

Stormy was cut off when their sphere shifted and all three girls slid around, hitting their heads on the walls. "What the darkness—"

Light was thrust around them, and Darcy swiveled her head around and around, looking at the room they were in; it seemed to be a throne room.

An enormous man with an eyepatch stared at them curiously from the throne. "They do not look Asgardian, my son." he said, motioning to the sisters. "Yet at the same time, they cannot be Midgardians. Their knowledge of magic is deep; they have to have been born into it."

"I understand your concern, Allfather," Thor said, bowing his head. "But I ask you to bring judgement upon that of which is not for Midgardians to decide. They would be safer in an Asgard prison."

"What have they done?" Odin inquired, getting to his feet.

"Attacked my comrades and I while we searched for a lost companion, who joined our foes in almost besting us in battle." Thor replied.

"Have they committed no crimes against Asgard, then?" Odin asked. "Surely you were able to take care of yourself."

"Verily—But, Allfather—" Odin slapped Thor on his shoulder companionably, smiling slightly.

"Then there is no cause to be afraid, my son! These are mere maidens. What can maidens do in battle against the Prince of Asgard?" Sif clenched her teeth angrily but said nothing. "If anything, you should be grateful that these maidens provided a chance for you to hone the skills that, perhaps, have gotten rusty with so little fighting on Midgard."

This made the blonde prince step forward, annoyed, but Odin continued. "Besides, these maidens are not Asgardians. I fear they are from the Greater Realms."

"The Greater Realms?" asked Thor curiously. Odin nodded.

"The Greater Realms exist in a higher dimension out of the nine sacred realms. There are more kingdoms, yet, without the Allfather's protection, the realms are wild and barren."

"Liar." muttered Stormy under her breath. Icy turned at her voice and would have said something, but Odin chose the moment to pronounce judgement.  
"Set them free outside the kingdom."

"Father!" Thor yelled, and it was obvious he was angry, fists clenched and face turning red. "Of what they have done, you know not."

"My duty is to Asgard, Thor." Odin said, harshness creeping into his tone. "I have no time for 'little' magic maidens from the Greater Realms."

"Little magic—" Darcy said, but Icy shushed her.

* * *

In a short time, and much to Thor's anger, the girls were thrust outside, into the snow. It was cold and wet, and Icy began to walk, the other girls following suit. There would be a lot of hiking to do if they were to reach anything worth reaching, and they should save their magic.

They had been trudging for about half a mile when they came upon a cave opening; they were not uncommon in the mountain they walked beside, but this one was near to the ground, unlike the others, and therefore easily accessible.

Stepping inside, Icy and her sisters continued downwards as the passage narrowed, then widened to reveal a woman wearing green with long blonde hair and a level of magic as high as the Trix radiating off of her and her living quarters.

"Blondie," hailed Icy as they stepped into the space, "You know where we are right now? Not still with those Thor and Odin characters, right?"

A thin smile parted the blond's lips when she felt the Trix's magic flowing off of the girls. Younger then her, but not by a shocking number. Even from this place of exile Amora heard news. Thor had new allies, and she had just found what she needed...

"What is it?" Stormy demanded, glaring at Amora.

"You seek vengeance against the Thunderer and his companions as well?" she asked, her voice sweet and quiet. The Trix nodded fiercely as one.

"What a coincidence," Amora said, "I do as well—and I can get us all out of here."

She stuck out one hand to Icy. "I am Amora, the Enchantress."

* * *

"You know, we grew up with an enchantress," said Darcy to Amora as she and Icy repainted each other's fingernails and Stormy sucked on a lollipop.

"Did you?" asked Amora as she sat across the cave room from them, fingering some sort of magic trinket. "Who?"

"Her name was Zannataya Griffin. She was friends with my mother and she babysat for us sometimes when our mothers were out doing battle." Icy said, snickering when she jolted Stormy's arm and made her spill the maroon nail polish she was using. Amora wrinkled her nose at the unfamiliar word, 'baby-sitting'.

All in all, the Trix and the Enchantress had gotten along very well. Amora had been to Grim once, where the Trix's mothers used to take them on vacation. She reminded Darcy of her aunt Krystaline, Icy's mother.

"Had promise, but she left the coven to go to the Company of Light."

"Oh, the Sparxian battle?" replied Amora absentmindedly.

"You've heard of it?" asked Stormy in wonder. Amora nodded.

"Almost everyone. Both princesses gone in but a day; everyone, excluding Earth, was in shock. However, tell me more about this enchantress."

"Not unless you tell me how we're going to crush the humans back on Earth." Icy said, suddenly rude.

"Fine. I give you my word that we will all defeat them together."

"No," Darcy said. The memory of Lord Darkar's betrayal was still strong. "We need a blood contract."

"If that is thy wish." Amora said, picking up a long, sharp dagger from the table. She pricked her finger, then handed the dagger to the sisters, who each did the same. Then all Amora traced a circle on the floor with her finger, putting her fingerprint inside it. The others did as well, one after the other.

Everyone knows that a creature of magic is bound to commit an action that is contracted by blood.

"Done," Icy said, nodding to Amora, "Let's get this over with."

The Enchantress raised her hands in reply as green magic began to glow around them...


	12. Chapter 11

**a/n: Would have been up sooner if I wasn't sick.**

Tony Stark stood suit-less in the center of his living room. "JARVIS...?"

"Systems running correctly, sir. New programs integrated completely."

"Awesome," he responded, rubbing his hands together. "Connect to Bruce."

"What is it, Tony?" Bruce's voice could be heard immediately. "I'm working."

"And not marveling at my genius? Darcy and her little friends can't sneak up on us again now." the billionaire said proudly.

"I'm surprised that you're being so careful," replied Bruce. "It's not like you to harden your heart so fast."

"What do you mean?"

"Are you sure Darcy—really, are you sure any of them—are working of their own free will?" he asked, frowning.

"You're thinking...Loki? That person we captured and Darcy let escape? Or...something else?"

"There was something very Loki-ish about them all—less so about Darcy, but the blue one was basically radiating it."

"But he's in prison, isn't he? Thor brought him to Asgard to face judgement."

"Well, aren't Darcy and Co supposed to be captive too? Maybe he escaped." Bruce replied darkly. "Ask Thor."

When Thor was asked, however, upon returning from Asgard, he was met with nothing but a glare and the report that their opponents were now loose in what had to be their own element.

* * *

"Okay, so you get it?" Tony asked for the hundredth time.

"No, I don't 'get it'. Tony, if you're so concerned with security measures then stay home and do it yourself," Pepper replied irritably. "That you're flying to San Antonio at a time like this—"

"What do you mean, a time like this?" asked Clint. "It's not like we're paralyzed—or dead."

Natasha rubbed her forehead despairingly. "Why is this such a big calamity anyway?"  
Bruce and Tony glanced at each other.

"She—Darcy— got under our noses." Tony started.

"They have magic." Bruce added.

"We don't understand them."

"Because," Bruce said, facing Tony directly, "We did this to Darcy—by hitting her with the filtered energy. We knew it had the power to dissolve long-standing Asgardian-like magic and alter brainwaves, but what else can it do?"

Steve opened his mouth, then proceeded to close it. Natasha had no such reservations, letting loose a stream of Russian curses, while Pepper demanded an answer of what exactly they did to Darcy, and what happened to Darcy anyway.

"I've been doing some research on what we did," Bruce said. "And every single organism that I recreated the experiment with eventually needed a frontal lobotomy."

"What?" Pepper's outraged cry outranked Tony's low mutter. "Lobotomy?"

"Something with the brainwaves is incorrect—there are seizures, delusions, and hallucinations, and eventually the person cannot come to trust their own consciousness, sending them even further into insanity—which is what happens."

No one spoke before Thor asked solemnly, "What have we thrust upon our former comrade in arms?"

Everyone was too upset to even make a thrusting joke.

"Sir—" JARVIS began, before Fury's voice came over the intercom about some sightings of the organisms similar to the one you damn Avengers let escape in Gardenia, California and telling Iron Man to get his lazy ass over here right now.

"Sir—" JARVIS said again, but Tony was lifting off. Pepper took pity on the poor AI and asked him what he had tried to say.

"I detect a high level of threatening magic attempting to override my security protocols." he said dutifully before cutting out.

Understandably this threw Earth's mightiest heroes into a panic worthy of the line for the iPhone five. There was more then one threatening force in the tower—but where?  
Slowly and with care and random intervals of falling to the ground and jumping behind furniture to duck for cover, Steve went to get his shield and Natasha to her (other) guns.

Thor called for his hammer. Bruce took one look at the preparations and left the building without saying where he was going, stating that he didn't want to be around if anything happened, and Pepper decided to (read: was forced to by Steve) leave the tower.

"We should split up." Steve spoke up, now the default leader. Most of them nodded in agreement, though Clint and Natasha looked wary at the thought of being separated in combat.

Captain America walked into the living room, shield brandished. The room was unlit but empty-looking.

"Darcy?" he called, feeling bit stupid to be talking to an empty room. Something crunched under his feet—it looked like glass, but when he touched it, it began to melt. Water? Ice? He shuddered that the memories before realizing - didn't one of Darcy's friends make the same frosty trail, the blue one?

He turned, then turned again. Someone was in here with him. He began to back up towards the far wall to get a better view of this room. "This tower's on lockdown, Darcy!" he said out loud. "That means is impossible to get in or out—you're trapped in here!"  
The Captain would later only remember the bang on his head. Icy stepped out from inside the wall, setting down the pewter vase she had been holding.

"That's for calling me Darcy." she said.

* * *

_Meanwhile..._

Darcy huddled on the floor of the closet, shaking and rocking back and forth. The Winx Club was right outside the door; she knew it. She could hear Bloom's voice, Stella's and Musa's as well, telling her what would happen to her as soon as she came out of the closet.

She felt completely defenseless, her magic useless in her eyes. This had never happened when she fought them, but she felt so incompetent...

Where were her sisters? She needed her sisters—they were her only family left. She couldn't quite remember where they had said they would be.

She begged them not to hurt her. She was afraid; she had never been this scared before.

She spoke to a completely empty room.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! For the person who asked—Amora is the Enchantress' name. She's an Asgardian enemy of Thor's.**

Bloom was sitting on the curb, her head in her hands, breathing deeply in the night air. A crowd of people had gathered around, and if nothing was done soon she was sure there'd be a riot.

"Uh, ma'm, I'm the chief of police for Gardenia and if there's anything I can do to get the Winx released I'd be glad to do it," Captain Yates said to the woman in the suit who stood in front of the Winx Club as they talked quietly amongst themselves. "They're good young ladies who haven't done anything wrong." Agent Hill, as she had introduced herself, shook her head.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think that will be possible—why don't you get this crowd to disperse a bit," she said. "It's not anything wrong, we just need to ask these girls a few questions, like where they come from."

"We told you. Not from this planet." Stella said loudly, earning a frown from Hill.

A man in a suit spoke quickly to Hill, causing her to turn and see a landing Iron Man suit, containing one cursing Tony Stark.

"Stark. Come look at this." she didn't waste time with pleasantries. He evidently didn't care about them, instead striding over to look at the Winx sitting on the curb. Musa was sleeping on Tecna's shoulder while she was muttering in Zenin to someone on her cell phone, probably so that the others couldn't understand her. She nudged the music fairy awake before looking up at Iron Man.

"What do you want?" asked Bloom unhappily, staring up at the armor-clad superhero. He crossed his arms, a bit surprised at her lack of awe at the technology.

"I'm Tony Stark!"

The Winx glanced at each other blankly.

"Iron Man."

Nothing. Despite her frustration Hill smirked, making Tony angrier. He motioned for Bloom to stand up, which she did, crossing her arms.

"What's your name?"

"Princess Bloom Elisabeth Blaise Adena of Sparx, Archduchess of Flayme and Maximum." she announced the recently-memorized name with as much regality as she could muster with a light rain dampening her hair and darkish bags appearing under her eyes from stress.

The Iron Man's mask was pulled away from his face, allowing him to turn to Hill and raise his eyebrows almost to his hairline. She shrugged.

"Wow," he whistled. "One hell of a name, your _highness_." Bloom's mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, this time to speak.

"You can't keep us here. I am an American citizen!" she stomped her foot childishly, making Layla roll her eyes and pull on the edge of Bloom's skirt to get her to sit back down.

"Is she right?" Iron Man glanced at Hill. She shook her head, frowning.  
"None of them have any sort of identification on them—no driver's license or legal credit cards—some sort of dollar bill, or something, and—"

"Bloom, we don't have to stay," Tecna spoke up. "I called Ms. Faragonda and there should be people here in five minutes or less—hey!" she cut herself off when an agent grabbed her phone.

Pretty soon, everyone was shouting at one another; Gardenians shouting at SHIELD agents, Winx shouting at Iron Man, Hill shouting at Gardenians. It was chaos.

At least, it was until a Red Fountain craft landed in the center of the fray.

* * *

Thor opened his eyes slowly.

His first thought was that his head hurt worse then when he had first met Jane. His second thought was of the beautifully evil blonde woman standing in front of him.

And her friends.  
Icy stood off to the right side of Enchantress, with Stormy flanking the left, but Darcy he could not see.

He heard a whimper, then glimpsed Darcy crouched on the floor in the corner...crying? Brushing the questions from his mind, he instead turned to his friends.

Natasha was still unconscious, a bloody welt on her forehead, and she was frozen from the waist down as well as across her back to the wall. Steve was encased in a block of ice but looking relatively unharmed and, horrifyingly enough, conscious and terrified. Clint appeared to be shackled to the celling by his limbs but also conscious, his head swiveling as he tried to see what the others were doing.

"Oh, Thor, you're awake," crooned Amora mockingly. "Good. We just have to wait for our last little friend to wake up and we can get what we came for."

"What's that?" Clint.

"Revenge." it was Icy who replied.

"Amora." he muttered under his breath. Evidently hearing, she turned towards him, smiling wickedly."It's nice to know that you recall my memory, Thunderer."

"Indeed," Thor replied heatedly. "And you are worse then my brother, for you have had nothing in your heritage to sadden you in the slightest." this elicited a scream of rage from Amora.

"How dare you!" she rushed forward, presumably to finish him off, when she turned and seemed to be head-counting. "I thought there were five," she turned to Icy. "You said there were five."

"There usually are. Also there's a small guy who runs whenever we show up. I'm pretty sure he's scared of us."

"Who is the last one?"

"Some dude in armor." Stormy said from her crouching position on the floor where she was shaking Darcy into awareness. Darcy continued to cry and mutter.

"One of them is missing?" shrieked Amora. "If he surprises us we won't stand a chance! We must finish them off now—he'll be nothing alone."

"We can't do it without Darcy." said Stormy defiantly. Icy nodded. Amora raged as the sisters refused but there was not much to do about it. They had signed a blood contract. She was unable to harm the Avengers without the consent of the Trix coven.

"You can die along with them." she said calmly, turning around and facing the sisters. Icy glared back at her, crossing her arms as her blue eyes flashed green-white for a second, but neither sister who had their wits about them really processed what Amora was saying.

When they did, it was too late. Amora murmured something under her breath and the ice covering the Avengers seemed to multiply and grow to cover the Trix. Icy laughed harshly, like breaking glass.

"Don't you know anything, Enchantress?"

Her eyes flashed again as small cracks ran down the ice encasing them. "Never put a witch in her own element." the ice shattered, making Amora curse loudly before raising her arms and sending green energy towards them. Stormy put up a shield to stop it but Amora was older and probably more powerful.

When the three sisters were sealed into the small forcefield, Darcy still doubled-up and crying, Amora left looking slightly conflicted.

"Why would she do that?" asked Natasha, having come to.

Thor frowned, "Amora has always tried to harm me or take me captive in some way but usually there is a purpose to her cruelty. I do not know why she would leave without taking her comrades-in-arms along with her."

Icy rubbed a welt on her forehead bad-natured-ly as Stormy slumped against her. She herself was slipping into unconsciousness as well. Another decision for the coven come to naught. Well, at least the fail safe would still work, though this wasn't the best time to bring it out...


	14. Chapter 13

A/N: A Christmas update! Yay! (or so I thought when I wrote this)Gosh, I am so, so, so sorry about the updating thing, I feel terrible. One of my friends was just put into rehab for eating disorder and the other is at Snowden. I made it extra long just for you!

* * *

"What the hell is that, Rivera?" Hill spoke into her headpiece furiously. Iron Man turned around, his exposed face showing his smirk.

"Nice ride."

Tecna shrugged her shoulder to jolt Musa off of it.

"Huh?" the panicked fairy arose quickly and spied the craft. "Oh, is our ride home here?"

"I hope so." said Stella. "This rain is doing nothing for my hair—or yours, actually." Musa rolled her eyes before returning her gaze to the craft. The door was slowly unfolding and it seemed people were preparing to exit.

"Attention, Sterling Force: there is an unknown object in our proximity. Possibly hostile parties are exiting." Hill said into her earpiece. Immediately, a group of agents surrounded the craft and raised their weapons. The Winx girls gasped and Stella yelped, running towards the craft and paying no attention to the agent, instead grabbing at the gun of the one in front. Immediately, he pulled out a knife but she didn't seem to notice, shaking his arms and the gun and bringing her face close to his.

"They're not 'hostile', they're just our boyfriends—do you hear me, secret-agent-guy? Our BOYFRIENDS!"

"Oh-My-Dragon..." Bloom whispered through her teeth, half embarrassed, half upset, covering her eyes with her hands.

Layla rose and ignored the shouts and questions from the SHIELD agents around her. It grew silent as the Specialists exited from the craft quickly and militantly. Stella ran to Brandon and wrapped her arms around him. He smiled but seemed more focused on drawing his weapon and forming a protective circle around his and the other Specialist's backs.

Tony whistled loudly and muttered something that made Flora cringe delicately and frown. Maria Hill was promising a slow and painful death to whoever managed to let the craft get past the radar while keeping her revolver locked on Riven, who happened to be in the center of the boys. Musa bit her lip so hard it turned white.

"Wait, wait, wait. We come on behalf on SWORD!" Brandon yelled. Stella frowned in confusion.

"We just want the girls to come with us." added Sky as diplomatically has he could, practicing from years of prince-ship. Bloom shook her head.

"Sky, we can't come with you."

"What are you talking about? When Tecna texted us—"

"We have to find the Trix, guys. They've escaped—we think Darcy did it with her magic."

"But I thought—" Helia's comment was cut off by Iron Man landing quickly in front of Bloom.

"What Darcy are you talking about?"

"Nasty wiotch," said Musa, crossing her arms and shooting a glare towards Riven that Tony couldn't quite read. "She has two sisters, her coven—not even her sisters, I read that when I was looking through her file. Her cousins."

"Her sister—the blue one—ah...the one with the snow powers—she's got white hair? And the other one has purple hair that looks like—"

"A storm cloud." finished Layla for him. "They're the ones."

"Have you seen them?" asked Flora, confused.

"Something like that." Tony replied.

* * *

"So you know these people?" asked Tony as he stood in the Red Fountain craft. He had protested, saying that he could fly himself, but the teenagers had insisted that he accompany them so they could discuss Darcy and her 'sisters', or, as they called them, the Trix.

"Sure we do," said Stella, cross legged in her chair. There were only two seats left in the ship when all the navigators were seated, and neither had been offered to Tony. Stella sat in one, with Bloom sitting on the floor beneath her and laying her head and one arm on the seat, and a just-about asleep Musa dozed in the other while Tecna and Layla sat on the floor, leaning on her chair. Flora was off in the back looking for something that had sounded like 'a drink'. "We've been fighting them since forever."

"Well, for four and a quarter years, to be precise." Tecna replied, having regained possession of her phone.

"But, yes we do know their...kind." Riven called out. "They're not a fun kind."  
"You're telling us. Me. All of us...or something." Tony scratched his head, trying to to cover his mistake.

"Who's 'us'?" asked Brandon, frowning.

"No one, really." said Tony nonchalantly. Unfortunately, Stella shook her head, giving him a sweet smirk.

"There is a definite 'us'." she proclaimed.

"Fine, there's an 'us'." he admitted. "I'll tell you more about 'us' if you tell me more about...'you'."

"Is that all?" Bloom asked. "Well, I'm Bloom, and I'm the fairy of the Dragon Fire, and these are my friends, Stella, fairy of the sun and moon—" she poked the blonde in the knee, "Musa, Tecna, Layla," the three rattled off their powers faster then someone who wasn't Tony would remember, "and Flora is in the back. And these are the Specialists, Brandon, Timmy, Helia, Riven, and Sky." she blew a kiss towards the blonde-haired boy who returned the sentiment, making Tony cringe inwardly. "We're the Winx Club, and they're the Specialists."  
Would he have to call them the Winx Club? He cringed inside again. "Okay, so you're very modern for Asgardians." he said.

"What's Asgard?" asked Stella, placing one hand over her mouth to yawn.  
"It's one of the nine Bless realms," said the one with short, magenta-colored hair (Tony was fairly sure her name was Tara and she got her powers from rock music or shit like that) "ruled over by a king called Allfather Odin. They don't associate with our planets."

"Where do you live, then?"

"The Magix Dimension." if he had been sitting down he would've fallen off the chair, but he wasn't. "On all different planets."

He would have asked another question but Timmy said, "We answered your queries—now you have to answer ours."

"Okay. So I'm Tony Stark—awesome genius, playboy, and philanthropist," he quoted himself, "and my team is called the Avengers. We have a Hulk. So for some reason it automatically becomes our job to protect the world from people like your Trixies—"

"Trix." none of the girls looked amused and everyone corrected him at once.  
"Right, your Trix cereals." still nothing. Tough crowd.

"Where are Icy, Darcy, and Stormy?" asked Tecna.

"We...don't know yet. But that's why we need you...people...to do something about them. If you know about them, you'll know what to do with them."  
"I understand." Bloom said. "We'll try to help as best we can."

A call from Pepper drove Tony's attention elsewhere. "I've gotta take this," he muttered as the girls started their own conversations. "Pep. Holding down the fort? Because you won't believe what—"

"No, actually I win the game of Suckish Situations," Pepper replied tensely. "because your Trax—"

"Trix."

"—Trix—are here. All locked up. Apparently they attacked the crew and then their partner, some guy—er, girl—Thor knows— left without them. They disagreed. And so they're mostly unconscious right now but please come home before I have to knock someone out with my laptop."

"Don't know why you still use a laptop, when—"

"Tony!"

"Right, um, bit of a snag...these...young ladies...who have been fighting the Trix cereals for decades, or something, are coming with me to deal with it. Say hello, Drinx."

He swung the camera on his mask to show the six girls. They waved halfheartedly, except for Musa, who was asleep, and Bloom, who said, "It's Winx."

"Yeah." Tony replied. There was silence on Pepper's end as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Tony, what have we said about bringing home prostitutes?"

"They're not prostitutes! Well, either way—"

"What's a prostitute?" asked Flora loudly. Tony glared at her before turning back to Pepper.

"Look, Pep. They have experience with these Trixes and they want to take them off our hands. I don't see the problem with that."

"Look, Tony, I don't care. I just want you to come back now."

"You can't live without me?"

"Nick Fury is about five minutes away from bulldozing down the door."

"Oh."


End file.
